The fourth evening of battles in the 2014 Miltown Beat Down featured DJ/Producer Moses, MTBD veteran Soul Trak and was dominated by two dynamic producers; Bennie D and *hitmayng. Live scratching, creative synthesizer performance and technical difficulties were some of the highlights of the night.
Here is how it went down..
Round 1: *hitmayng [450] VS Bennie D [444]
If there was ever a battle that was too close to call, it was our first round. New comer Bennie D brought a high impact and high energy style that was tough for the seasoned MTBD vet *hitmayng. Now Bennie is no battle rookie, but the crowd didn’t know what to expect from the new producer. He caught everyone’s attention right away. Riddled with technical difficulty, *hitmayng simply closed his laptop and freaked some beats on his SP-404. In the history of this event, producers with this much technical woes have bowed out, or just lost. But *hitmayng fought through it, and WON his first round of battle.
Round 2: Soul Trak [416] VS Moses [435]
Armed to the teeth, with turntables, scratch records and fresh beats, rookie Moses made quite the impression on the crowd in his first Miltown Beat Down appearance. Soul Trak and Moses had almost opposite styles. While Moses focused on funky samples and big bass, Soul Track showed us he was a synth guru. The crowd seemed with Moses from the jump, while the judges seemed to be impressed with Soul Trak’s unique style. A close one, but Moses came out on top.
Round 3: *hitmayng [410] VS Soul Trak [332]
After some computer TLC, *hitmayng returned ready to win in his second appearance. Soul Trak brought a variety of new sounds we’d not heard on the MTBD stage this year. While he won over many of the judges, Soul Trak was no match for *hitmayng’s slumpy and fat sound.
Round 4: Bennie D [442] VS Moses [371]
Rookies Bennie D and Moses faced off in the fourth round of battle with a completely different approach. Mosese was trying to get the audience hype to his energetic style and dynamic scratch techniques. While Bennie D played it cool, and let the beats do all the work for him. Bennie threw out a few flips that won over the judges and the crowd ( that wasn’t yelling for Moses ).
Round 5: Bennie D [465] VS Soul Trak [341]
Bennie D stepped back into the ring to face Soul Trak in their final appearance of the night. Bennie wasn’t just going for the win, he was throwing everything he had at em. While Soul Trak definitely brought some of his best beats in this last round, Bennie D flipped a Daft Punk classic into a hip-hop / house hybrid that took him over the top with the crowd.
Round 6: *hitmayng [462] VS Moses [398]
Off stage, these two are friends and collaborators, but in the ring of battle, there were no holds barred. Moses was ready to out perform *hitmayng, but unfortunately for Moses, *hitmayng’s computer was back up and running. We can only imagine the heat that *hitmayng was planning to bring in the competition, because the three beats he played in this round nearly started a riot! Moses, a true master of ceremonies, got the audience so into what he was doing, that we had to go into a tie breaker #beatoff. After 4 beats, *hitmayng came out on top.
With a total score of 1,322 *hitmayng was runner-up to Bennie D’s impressive final score of 1,351.
Bennie D moves on to the finals at the Miramar Theater on November 8th 2014.